Greetings from Germany
08-29-2018, 06:24 AM
#1
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Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 34
Greetings from Germany
Hi there! My name is Olea, I'm 30 years old, I come from Melbourne, Australia, and now I live in Germany.
My mum made clothing and soft toys when I was growing up, and I remember some curtains and patchwork pillows, but not many quilted items. My one grandma is a knitter, and the other was a longtime scout leader, and neither was into sewing all that much. I don't know how I ended up with the quilting bug, but I think it's because I love fabric, and I love the grid-based designs (and how modern quilts play with the "rules").
I travelled a bit as a nanny/au-pair, and spent lots of my money on beautiful Liberty fabrics when I lived in London, and at the local LQS in Seattle. Here in Germany, it's very difficult to find good quality/modern quilting fabric locally. What I can find is expensive, up to 24 euros per metre (which is 25.50USD per yard), so I think buying online from the US or UK is the way to go.
I couldn't tell you the first quilting project I started, but this year, I finally completed my very first quilt. It's all half-square triangles, that I had initially tried to work into a star design, but I'm still learning about lights and darks, so it ended up in this semi-gradient. I picked the turquoise binding mostly to link the front and back fabrics together, but I love how it pops.
I quilted it on my domestic computerised machine with a walking foot, mostly stitch-in-the-ditch, but following different lines to try to give it some variety. I'm debating putting it back in and quilting it more densely to make it more noticeable, but I also want it to stay super soft and cuddly, and I'm afraid of ruining it.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]600218[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]600220[/ATTACH]
Because there's no local quilting shops here, there's also no local quilting guild, and I don't know anyone who lives near me that quilts or sews. I could travel to the nearest major city, but I'm not quite fluent in German yet, so I'm very glad to have found this online community
I'm working on a small wall hanging and a bed sized quilt, and dreaming about my next quilty plans, so I should have plenty to post here before long.
My mum made clothing and soft toys when I was growing up, and I remember some curtains and patchwork pillows, but not many quilted items. My one grandma is a knitter, and the other was a longtime scout leader, and neither was into sewing all that much. I don't know how I ended up with the quilting bug, but I think it's because I love fabric, and I love the grid-based designs (and how modern quilts play with the "rules").
I travelled a bit as a nanny/au-pair, and spent lots of my money on beautiful Liberty fabrics when I lived in London, and at the local LQS in Seattle. Here in Germany, it's very difficult to find good quality/modern quilting fabric locally. What I can find is expensive, up to 24 euros per metre (which is 25.50USD per yard), so I think buying online from the US or UK is the way to go.
I couldn't tell you the first quilting project I started, but this year, I finally completed my very first quilt. It's all half-square triangles, that I had initially tried to work into a star design, but I'm still learning about lights and darks, so it ended up in this semi-gradient. I picked the turquoise binding mostly to link the front and back fabrics together, but I love how it pops.
I quilted it on my domestic computerised machine with a walking foot, mostly stitch-in-the-ditch, but following different lines to try to give it some variety. I'm debating putting it back in and quilting it more densely to make it more noticeable, but I also want it to stay super soft and cuddly, and I'm afraid of ruining it.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]600218[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]600220[/ATTACH]
Because there's no local quilting shops here, there's also no local quilting guild, and I don't know anyone who lives near me that quilts or sews. I could travel to the nearest major city, but I'm not quite fluent in German yet, so I'm very glad to have found this online community
I'm working on a small wall hanging and a bed sized quilt, and dreaming about my next quilty plans, so I should have plenty to post here before long.
08-29-2018, 06:34 AM
#2
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: The Deep South near Cajun Country, USA
Posts: 5,434
Welcome from south Louisiana!
Your first quilt is awesome. Too much quilting will make it stiff, but some specific designs in the darker HST's would be cute. There are so many ideas out there. I tend to do flowers and concentric circles. You could pick any child's animal and just do the outline of the animal. Or perhaps one of the ideas here. https://www.favequilts.com/Patterns-...chine-Quilting
Leah Day has more ideas than you have fabric. https://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/
Your first quilt is awesome. Too much quilting will make it stiff, but some specific designs in the darker HST's would be cute. There are so many ideas out there. I tend to do flowers and concentric circles. You could pick any child's animal and just do the outline of the animal. Or perhaps one of the ideas here. https://www.favequilts.com/Patterns-...chine-Quilting
Leah Day has more ideas than you have fabric. https://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/
08-29-2018, 08:16 AM
#5
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 2,414
Hi and welcome from North Carolina! Your quilt is beautiful! Wonderful job! You've come to the right place for all kinds of information. A very inexpensive way to built a stash is to visit thrift shops, if there are any in your area. You can buy large clothing with lots of useable fabric for very low prices. You'll have to do some deconstruction, but it would be a whole lot less expensive than $25 per yard!!
Keep quilting and enjoy!!
Keep quilting and enjoy!!
08-29-2018, 02:00 PM
#9
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 34
Wow, thanks Barb! These are amazing resources.
I'm hoping for a free-motion foot next month as a birthday gift ... pretty sure I've left enough clues for my husband
I'm nervous about how heavy the quilt will feel, moving it through my machine, but these designs offer so much more variety than just using a walking foot.
I'm hoping for a free-motion foot next month as a birthday gift ... pretty sure I've left enough clues for my husband
I'm nervous about how heavy the quilt will feel, moving it through my machine, but these designs offer so much more variety than just using a walking foot.
08-29-2018, 02:02 PM
#10
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 34
I do have plenty of other projects I want to get to ... it's hard to step away from the perfectionism!
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